Trout Slayers

Up close and personal

2009-03-18T20:12:00.001-07:00

Spent a few days on the weber this week testing some paterns. Ive been using a grey soft hackle size 14 and 16 instead of a sow. It seems that this week at least they are just as effective. Enjoy the shots.

Strange Spring days on the ogden

2009-03-14T21:21:00.000-07:00

We had a heck of a time trying to get free to fish today, finally my mom was going to be home to watch my son. I had my daughter Nelly and Johns boy Skylar with me as we headed out at about 430pm for the ogden. We have a nice nice deep drag in the middle of monroe park that we like to hit. Its very kid friendly. We walked up and i got Sky all ready and showed him where and how to throw his bugs to keep from getting tangled. His third pass through and the indy sank, he set and bang it was "fish on". A nice little rainbow for his first fish of the year on the fly rod. Cool thing is, Sky had seen his dad and i tying up flies so he had tied all his own stuff. The fish took a sow bug that he tied way too big and with no red thread, i think it was gold, cool. He was set so i went up to the next rock threw in and boom, within a few cast ive got a fight on. This fish would not come off the bottom. All said and done i had a nice 15 inch bow to net, he loved him some sow bug too. The strange part was that other than a quick on and off for Sky a while later, that was it. No more fish for you.

2009-03-07T20:20:00.000-08:00

Couple more from the 7th march, John, Randy, Steve, and Ken were in the group today. Read the next post for the details. These are just a few extra pics that wouldnt go on the post below.

Spring on the weber river

2009-03-07T20:04:00.000-08:00

Well we went up to the weber, to one of our new favorite spots, the section just above echo . The favorites are still large soft hackles sz 6-8 and sow bugs grey sz 14-16. Its been warm but today it dropped back to 30 or so and the rainbows which we had been seeing were no where to be found today. But the browns, whites and cutts were here. I caught several nice browns and two cutties. Cutts were smallmaybe 12 inches, but I caught 5 browns over 16 and two were 18. Still looking for a 20 incher upthere. Great day, lots of fun..

Weber river in the evening

2009-02-28T19:51:00.000-08:00

Fished on the weber today for the last 3 hours of light. Caught all our fish on buggers. The bigger brown hit right at dark and gave me one hell of a fight.

FISHIN BUGGERS ON THE WEBER.

2009-02-26T13:51:00.000-08:00

Me and ken went fishin the weber in wanship and I got in to 5 nice trout. all of them took buggers, needless to say it was a lot of fun.

A few more from the horseshoe

2009-02-23T20:14:00.000-08:00

I caught these 2 browns while fishing with Ken and Randy today in the horseshoe, The smaller of the two went 12 inches and took a bugger and the larger went 15 and took a brown midge pattern.

Horseshoe Canyon on the Weber

2009-02-23T17:08:00.000-08:00

We hit the weber today and the Tan Soft Hackle was king, the black and grey midge were second. Randy nailed a nice cutt in a pocket against a cliff, bowslayers best today was a descent brown that fell to the soft hackle. John should have some pics of a few fish as well. We caught tons of small whitefish and cutts. John fished the honey hole and took some nice browns out of it. See you on a river.

Nice day to be out fishing.

2009-02-21T19:48:00.000-08:00

I decided to take a trek out on the weber today. The fishing was slow, but we were lucky enough to have a pair of bald eagles watch over us as we fished. After a while I finialy landed a 12 inch brown, Man that felt good. I thought its better than going home with nothing. I worked my way up a few more holes and It finaly happend, Big fish on a bugger. He slammed it hard and I knew there was no way he was getting off not this time, then I realized I didnt have a net with me and I started to get a little nervous. At this point all I could see was the tail occationaly breaking the surface of the water. Finaly I broke his spirit and he gave up. He went 23 inches with a big old set of teeth on him. It was the perfect ending to a beautiful day on the river. You cant ask for much more than that.

South fork of the ogden

2009-02-20T22:04:00.000-08:00

This bow was the catch of the day. He went about 16 inchesbut he was at least 2 pounds, he was so fat. It was a natural, no cut fins, but it must have eaten a rat or something. I caught a second ow much smaller , but it appeared to be natural as well. Olive hairsear 14 rainbows where lovin it in that hole.

We hit the river at about 1030 it took a while to get dialed in but once we did it was on, Hairsear and a grey midge did the trick, i got into a cool rainbow, it was about 16-17 inches but it was so fat. Plenty of browns and whitefish. This is an awsome river but you have to be prepaired for small pocket water. no hugh holes here, but the fish are great. we lost several fish that would have gone 20 inches easily. I could see that river become a regular on our rotation. Great times.

feb 20 on the weber

2009-02-20T15:23:00.000-08:00

John and i hit the river around 100 pm today, there was someone in our normal hole so i fished the river below and john fished the opposite side of our hole. I was having a good time catching whitefish in several holes below john but soon our favorite spot opened up. The previos fisher did not have any luck but within 10 minutes i had a sweet brown to net. It went a bit over 20 and was looking really healthy. John landed a few nice browns too as well as white fish and a sucker or two. I was using a soft hackle and stone fly. John was more succesful with the trout on a barber scud. It had a red bead and was tan in color size 18 or so.

The fishing is getting good.

2009-02-19T23:32:00.000-08:00

Got out on the weber today and was able to get into some nice fish, this one is a 20 inch cutt that took a #8 black stone. I hooked three other fish on that pattern as well. We tried a few days ago to get into the rainbows up at the inlet to echo but we missed em. our buddy got into them the day before so they are starting to move. Looks like we are also looking at a trip to the green sometime in march, cant wait.

Weber river never lets us down.

2009-02-13T09:43:00.000-08:00

Well me and ken hit the weber again this week and she didnt let us down we had a couple of good days up in the canyon, caught some nice fish. Most fish were taking soft hackles but I caught a few on buggers.

2009-01-08T18:29:00.000-08:00

Ken caught this cutbow a few weeks ago, but this time I was with him to get some video for him.

2009-01-08T15:03:00.000-08:00

Went to the Hog Hole today and it was very slow, i got into a few suckers and then my luck changed, Took this sweet cutty on a black size 18 midge. SWEET.

2008-12-31T16:13:00.000-08:00

COLD day, HOT fishing!!!

2008-12-31T16:10:00.000-08:00

Well we couldn't resist it any longer, we had to hit Weber, regardless of the temps, and it payed off BIG. I think we caught 10 fish in about 45 minutes. Most of the fish were browns, with a few cutts in the mix. And the flies of choice were larger Pheasant tails and and smaller (size 18) midge patterns in white, both larvae, and emergers. My favorite was a little white emerger with a flash tail and flash loop wing, with a clear bead. The midge larvae were similar, just no tail or wing case. With the cold weather they seem to like these. I call them ice midges. Ken did well with similar stuff. But I really think they'll eat about anything presented right. I think another key to fishing right now is finding a nice deep hole where the fish will be stacked in for the winter. Thanks Johhny, for freezing your butt off and taking pictures while we slayed 'em.

24 inch Weber cutt

2008-12-11T16:29:00.000-08:00

Pulled this nice cutty out of the weber today, nice. Took a size 20 white lightning midge

new bug, nice fish

2008-12-09T18:37:00.000-08:00

tied up a new bug and landed some nice fish today. only fished for an hour and took 5 fish, 2 browns 3 cutts

Some new Bugs

2008-12-07T13:36:00.000-08:00

Here also is another pic of that tiger randy caught, i actually called the set so i get a little credit.

i also tied up some new aquatic worm patterns,( i hope they work). And a few black beauties and some mercury midge knock offs. Just a little FYI, youcan click on pics to enlarge and see detail.

2008-12-07T13:31:00.001-08:00

I also tied up a few of the articulated, cant wait to slayem on em.

Articulated sculpin

2008-12-07T12:39:00.000-08:00

Here's a picture of the articulated sculpin pattern that my buddy Matt Guymon came up with. This bad boy is awesome, it really draws em out. Matt's been using it alot lately, and hasn't really caught a fish under 18". Below are a few patterns that I've been tyeing myself, except for the black. I found that along with some others on the river the other day, lucky me.

Streamers Baby!

2008-12-05T23:11:00.000-08:00

Today was awesome, we went out with a new friend, Matt Guymon, who taught us the ropes when it comes to streamer fishing. He has a pattern he's been working on for awhile thats been tearing up the browns. We had fun watching them chase us, while we tried to coax them into hitting. We had some real bruisers trail these big articulated streamers. I did manage to get a nice tiger trout and Matt nailed some nice browns, but the biggest fish were just a little leary of smacking em. I think they're just beat down and tired from the spawn. It wasn't a high fish number day, but it was definitely a learning day. Thanks Matt for your lessons, it's much appreciated. I cant wait till these fish get fiesty again!!!

Provo Brown

2008-11-30T20:00:00.000-08:00

Randy sight fished this guy with a midge. I fell in the river.

Utah At Last

2008-11-26T12:54:00.000-08:00

Work called last week on Thursday seeing if I could be in Salt Lake Friday. I dropped everything in Arizona and packed the fishing gear. A couple of buddies and I hit some water Friday afternoon that I have been scoping out on Google Earth. We caught about 20 fish between the three of us and about 10 more hooked in 3 hours. It was a lot of fun, though challenging terrain.

Northwest Arizona, Silver Creek

2008-11-26T12:39:00.001-08:00

Unfortunately the trip I was planning to the Green fell through. Luckily I was able to hit a spring creek here in Arizona. Here are a few pictures. I was mostly interested in catching an Apache Trout, which is native to Arizona. It was too bad that rainbows got in the way, but finally I ended the day with a few Apaches.

Stupid Rainbow hit my hopper. I threw it back in disgust waiting for an Apache

Look What the WEBER gave up tonight.

2008-11-25T19:12:00.000-08:00

My biggest fish on the fly rod to date. he must have jumped 3 feet out of the water during the fight. I was so pumped, i fished this hole for three days, i knew he was there ,and i bet there is still a bigger one in there. sweet!!!!

2008-11-21T22:12:00.000-08:00

Well this week we fished the Weber heavy, i picked up a few spawners with black buggers early in the week. Randy and i also got into some really nice fish in a hole a little lower on the river. We caught browns, tigers, cutbows, cuts, and whitefish of coarse. picked a lot of fish up on midges and egg patterns this week.

2008-11-19T19:04:00.000-08:00

This is a beautiful kamloop I caught on Henrys fork oct. 2008. Thanks for the pic Ken.

2008-11-19T18:46:00.000-08:00

Here is a monster trout up at big springs from our trip to the madison in october. He's a beauty.

Strawberry on the kick boats

2008-11-17T08:12:00.000-08:00

We headed to Strawberry on Friday with the kick boats to try and catch some of those big cutts. We had some good success, but the wind started kicking up and we had to cut it short and head down the canyon to the Provo . But we did manage to catch a couple good ones. Ken hooked up to 4 fish and we got a picture of this one, He's got some length but he's a skinny bugger. The others were better we just didnt get any pictures. My fish was the only one I got, but it was a dandy.

The browns are getting fiesty!

2008-11-11T18:24:00.000-08:00

Our buddy John from Syracuse was up above Pineview for work and decided to stop and slay some trout. 30 minutes later he had a 24", and this BIG 28" brown to show for it. Looks like we'll be making a trip up there before the fish move back out. Oh yeah, I caught both fish with a zonker.

Lower Provo giving up some BIG rainbows!

2008-11-11T18:16:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday on the Provo was again, well spent time. As normal the zebra midges were producing some nice fish. I caught this BIG FAT 21" rainbow with a black on black zebra midge and Ken did well with a gray one. I was finally able to get one of the big boys to the net, and we both had possibly bigger fish than this one that spit the hook, Ken had a huge brown, and me with another rainbow. The browns are definitely spawning now, so we'll have to get back up there soon and slay some monsters on streamers.

Nymphin the Lower Provo

2008-11-03T15:00:00.000-08:00

So we had monday morning free and took advantage of that to hit the lower Provo for some fishing. We had what we consider the best day we've ever had on the Provo. Although we didn't get a ton of pics, we did catch quite a few fish. But the best fish we're the ones that got away. We lost between both of us probably 10 fish. Ken had one 20 plus rainbow, and I had a couple 20 inchers, but as luck would have it they kept spitin our midge out. Needless to say I was getting a little ticked.

Thanks for the Blog

2008-11-01T22:45:00.001-07:00

This is a great idea and I am happy to be aboard. I am living in Arizona at the moment, but I make quarterly fishing trips around the country and even get some time to fish for Arizona Bonefish every so often. This year I have fished the Provo, Green, and Madison, but also a few nasty places for big fish in Arizona, see below. I lived in Salt Lake for about ten years and West Yellowstone for two summers. I love to slay trout and other species.

I am hitting the Green in eleven days, yes I am counting down, so I will post when I get back.

Thanks again and hope to see more from you lucky people living in the middle of incredible rivers, you are seriously lucky.

Arrowhead Golf Course Carp

Madison Brown

My Pops

Madison Rainbow

Keeper of the Year

The Prove and Weber in late october

2008-10-31T09:01:00.000-07:00

The Provo 2 days before Halloween, we think the Browns are getting aggressive and ready to spawn because we snagged 3 as if they came and hit it out of anger. We also caught a few nice rainbows on black zebra midges dropped from worms and scuds. we also hit the Weber later that day and caught a load of white fish. randy pulled a really nice brown out of the weber on a black zebra, its the go to bug right now.

The Green

2008-10-31T08:36:00.000-07:00

This is the place. The flaming Gorge Resort. They will tell you exactly what you need to catch fish at the particular time. Pay attention to there advice. We fished the river from the Dam down to little hole in our kick boats. It was mid October and the temps during the day were in the 50,s. We fished a neon nightmare with a #20 black zebra midge dropper we played with some other stuff but this set up produced the most fish. We included a pic of the neon nightmare, we used orange and the were about a size 6.

MONSTER BROWN

2008-10-21T23:59:00.000-07:00

I caught this bad boy on the Hams Fork near Kemmerrer, Wyoming in june. We were up there on business and had a little time to sneak off to the river. We didn't even have our fly fishing gear, just our spinning rods, but I'd say they got the job done. This brown was estimated at over 25" and weighed between about 5 lbs. definitely my best Brown ever, the colors were amazing, plus it has the hook jaw going on.

Believe it or not, I caught this fish right before I caught the big one. In fact the big one was my very next cast after relaesing this beauty. It was a female, about 20", and weighed a good 3.5 lbs.

Trip to Madison River

2008-10-21T22:29:00.000-07:00

Our latest trip was to the famed MADISON RIVER in Montana. We fished 3 dollar bridge, and the stretch between Quake and Hebgen. It was mid October, and might I say we "slayed 'em." We hoped for more streamer action, but it turned out the brown's weren't quite starting to spawn yet. We did have good luck on Red brassies, San Juan worms, and caddis larvae. Our next trip will be the Green this coming weekend, so check back soon for more Slayage. ( By the way we do practice catch and release, and don't really slay our trout!)

We caught these Browns in the famous hole where Jacklin caught his 10+ lb brown